Do Ninja Dream of Bloody Sheep?
by Love Is a Myth
Summary: Sakura Haruno is not a paper ninja. She knows she won't live long if she was. Seduction, infiltration, sabotage—these are just some of the skills she embraces as a ninja of Konohagakure no Sato. Ninjas have no need for bright red dresses, naivette and individuality. *More realistic portrayal of the ninja lifestyle.*
1. Chapter I

**A/N: ****All contents are not beta read.**

**I do not own Naruto.**

**._._._.**

_"Do you recognize this body?"_

_"I-I yes…"_

**._._._.**

**Chapter I**

"Today your test is to steal one of these scrolls from me. The deadline for the completion of this task is during morning class at the end of the week. You get caught in the act, you fail. If I catch proof of you being the one to steal the scroll after the fact, minus 50 points. " Nara-sensei announced first thing in the morning, while lazily cleaning out his ear with his pinky. His other hand holding up a number of scrolls, presumably equal to the number of students in the class, with a thick rope coiling around each one to bind them together.

Majority of the class groaned. Ninja Tactics class was always hard to pass- what with Naoki Nara-sensei's unpredictable and often difficult tests.

It was one of the classes where being a paper ninja would never get you anywhere. Being a paper ninja in the first place, would just get you killed, if you even passed into the rank of gennin. Sakura Haruno knew this well. She knew this after the very first year she started training to become a ninja.

Sakura Haruno also knew where her skills lie and exactly how to accomplish the task without lifting a finger.

She shoots a coy smile at Naruto Uzumaki's direction, which he returned with a big smile and a thumbs up—he knew what to do. She also made sure that Kiba Inuzuka saw their exchange, who was seething at the site—just as insurance of course. She couldn't afford to fail this test just because of their propensity for blunder.

._.

"Those who did not even attempt to steal the scrolls, leave the room immediately. Those who I caught and apprehended during their attempt, leave as well." Nara-sensei states, first thing in the morning of the task's deadline. He's sprawled on his chair, lazily flipping through a book, while waiting for all the students whom he dismissed to leave. By the time the last disqualified student had gone there were only ten students left.

Sakura surveys the occupants left in the room; her keen viridian eyes almost glowing in their calm assessment.

Sitting next to her was the Yamanaka Clan heiress, "Ino-chan", who is known as her best friend. Sakura doesn't really care for the title and more times than not, gets annoyed with the overbearing blonde. But someone to take the attention away from her is a must and getting close to an heir to a major clan is also favorable. Surprisingly, the blonde is a good source of information—when it wasn't about her "Sasuke-kun".

A couple of seats to the left near the front of the classroom was Hinata Hyuuga, the Hyuuga Clan's heiress. She's very timid, stutters, impressionable and weak. Sakura wonders if she would have turned out like the pathetic Hyuuga if she had not realized that she wouldn't live to turn fourteen years old during her first year at the academy in her current state. Maybe. But then again, maybe she'd have quit by now. Sakura brushes the thought aside, there was no use in musing about what ifs.

Hinata feels eyes on her so she turns to Sakura's direction. Sakura, upon being caught observing the timid girl only smiled kindly and sent her a small wave. Hinata blushes and bows her head before raising her hand timidly in return. She turns back to the front with a small smile.

Sakura continues to look in her direction and wonders how she got a scroll. An accomplice? Hyuuga connections? Sakura cuts off her train of thought, it was no use speculating, she can just ask the timid girl at a later time.

Sakura then turns her attention to Naruto Uzumaki, who sat beside the Hyuuga, he had his head down on his arms and was snoring quite loudly. Sakura allows her lips to curl upwards slightly, he stayed up late last night, executing his plan of stealing scrolls which took him nearly the whole week to prepare.

He never did share how he did it, only saying that a little ninja wire came a long way. She will have to prepare something in return for him as thanks. A bento will most likely do.

The good thing about the Uzumaki was that he was attention-starved, naïve and often times simple-minded. He doesn't know how to utilize other's feeling of indebtedness to his advantage; this is why I always have him do things for me. Such a nice pet, that one.

A couple seats behind the snoring blonde is Kiba Inuzuka, he's an impulsive piece, always acting brash without thinking. He didn't like the pinkette at first, suspicious of her really—must be his animal senses warning him.—but a small act of "kindness" goes a long way. Especially if one just so happens to be present and able to help when his dog got injured on a training camp.

He was so cute when he tried to give her a scroll, saying that it was an extra- that he mistakenly took two. He may be bristly and brash but he too, is a good pet.

In the far right corner to the front of the class sat Shino Aburame, he hails from a clan of insect wielding shinobi and is very stoic and quiet. He keeps to himself, mostly because the other students do not like insects and found his silence and appearance quite unsociable. Sakura rather thinks that he's just blunt, more than a little awkward and loathes being left out of things.

It's not a surprise he got a scroll. His ability is a particularly useful weapon. Sakura makes a note to endear herself to the Aburame more.

Sakura trains her eyes to Shikamaru Nara next, his form slouched over the table, most likely sleeping once again. Sakura's rather surprised that he made an effort to pass the test. He usually finds these things too troublesome. Sakura slides her eyes back to Ino who alternated between ogling her precious Sasuke-kun and shaking her fist at the sleeping Nara. She probably convinced him to actually try for this one. Ino, despite being a bit vapid, was well informed of academy proceedings, especially since Sakura always reminds her of such things—she must have told Shikamaru that if he didn't pass this test that he would be signed up for remedial classes and that he's more liable to repeat the year. If there's anything that the lazy Nara hated it was getting more work and being pestered by troublesome women. But his intelligence will be of great use in the future, just as long as there is something to motivate him to do any actual work.

Beside the sleeping Nara was Chouji Akamichi. Looking at him, even before they got acquainted, Sakura could already tell of his insecurity—anyone with functional eyes and a working brain can, really. He's conscious of his weight; he was big and wide, towering over everyone.

All ninja must be fit and able to slip in and out tight spots, however the exception to this rule is the Akamichis. Akamichi clan members must eat copious amounts of food in order to replenish their vast chakra stores which are vital for their combat techniques. Sakura honestly doesn't understand why everyone in class was shallow enough to ostracize an Akamichi for their size. Sakura finds that Choji's abilities will be handy in battle if a war were to break out.

Choji must have noticed her staring because soon he was offering her some of his chips over Shikamaru's sleeping body. Sakura politely refuses, telling him that he needs it more, to reward himself for doing a good job at getting the scroll. Choji smiles widely in return, then turns back to his chips.

Sakura wanted to shake her head at how easily manipulated everyone around her is.

And lastly, the one sitting right in front of Sakura's chair was the Uchiha brat. Sasuke Uchiha may be exceptional as compared to everyone else in this room by academy standards but compared to the prodigies that his clan has cranked out in the past generations; Sasuke wasn't really anything particularly special.

Honestly, he is Sakura's goal here. She needed to get close to him, become his friend. So far her efforts seemed in vain. Although he seemed to be considerably less rude to her because she frequently hung out with Naruto, he also resented her presence because of Ino.

The blonde was a rabid fan girl. A waste of air in Sasuke's eyes.

Honestly, Sakura thinks the same but she is smarter than Sasuke in the aspect that she knew that although the Blonde's personality leaves less to be desired, she had utility. Sasuke is ignorant of this, ignorant of how much he can take advantage of people who worship him. This is how Sakura knows that although Sasuke Uchiha was outwardly cold and stoic, his mentality is naïve and self absorbed. He doesn't take notice of others because he finds them beneath himself and he doesn't manipulate or use his influence over others for his own gain because he has never thought to do so—hence naïve.

He's the perfect stepping stone for Sakura's goal—to become the matriarch of an influential ninja clan.

Then lastly, Sakura switches her gaze towards the last student left, Ami Kurotama. She sat at her chair, smirking confidently to herself.

Ami was one of the people who really helped her get to where she was today. In a way, Ami was one of her nurturing pillars. If the arrogant little princess didn't bully Sakura, she may not have opened her eyes to the reality of her putrid helplessness as a child. Ami helped Sakura realize that everyone only cares about themselves—when no one came to her rescue when she was used for shuriken practice by Ami and her little followers—and that people are easily manipulated to serve one's own needs.

The purple haired girl feels her gaze and turns to Sakura's direction showing her an arrogant smirk and a thumbs up. Her actions reasserting the fact that she had no idea that the scroll that Sakura 'stole' for her was a counterfeit. It was a well made counterfeit, thanks to Sakura's affinity for genjutsu but it wouldn't stand a chance against Nara-sensei's keen eyes. Sakura smiles back at her; this arrogant little _whore_ will get what's coming to her.

"Alright, I see that only ten of you are left; form one line in front of me and show me your scrolls." Nara-sensei orders, gesturing in front of him where he wanted the first student to stand.

He makes short work of inspecting the scroll's legitimacy, but when Ami turns her scroll in, approaching the keen Nara in a leisure manner with a triumphant look on her face—he throws a kunai at her. It slides past her, nary an inch away, taking wisps of purple locks with it as it embeds itself onto the wooden door.

"Kurotama Ami, what do you take your sensei for? A fool? Admittedly the genjutsu work you've put on it is on a higher level than what I would have expected from you but ultimately you have failed. Minus ninety five point. Leave the room." Nara-sensei tells the shaking girl. The girl is shaking in fear and frustration but ultimately, anger won out.

She immediately lashes at Sakura who did nothing to defend herself. Ami slaps, punches and scratches but the pinkette just holds her arms in front of her face—having a beautiful and unmarred face is vital to a Kunoichi.—while crying out from the pain.

In an instant Ami is lifted off the injured pinkette by Choji while Naruto holds up Sakura carefully in his arms and Kiba and Akamaru bare their fangs in Ami's direction while blocking her view of Sakura.

Sakura lets tears fall from her eyes and pretends to try and hide them; using a small voice to try and reassure everybody that she was fine while contradicting herself by flinching and shaking when Naruto so much as moves her.

Ami was shouting insults and curses at the pinkette's direction, spouting nonsense about how Sakura betrayed her—no one bothered to listen to her, the normally gentle Akamichi heavy handedly taking her out of the classroom.

After the commotion dies down, Nara-sensei continues on to congratulate the remaining students for passing. He informs them that each scroll contained a c-rank concealment genjutsu for them to learn. Some rejoiced and others groaned but either way, by passing this particular test, they've cemented their right to take next year's gennin examinations.

Sakura smirks as she keeps her head bowed over Naruto's shoulder as he soothes her by rubbing her back.

Everything was going according to plan.

**._._._.**

_"This is… this is Sakura Haruno."_

**._._._.**

**Kurotama is translated into "Black Soul". The original character of "Ami" was not given a last name, therefore I took my own liberty with her last name.**


	2. Chapter II

**A/N: I would like to thank all those who gave positive feedback to this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.**

**All contents are not beta read.**

**I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter II**

_"To be smart means you know a lot of things. To be wise means you know what to do with what you know. [But] Knowledge without insight is futile. Give me wisdom any day."_

_ – Richard Stidham_

**._.**

Sakura Haruno is six and she just started attending ninja lessons at the academy. The lessons are limited and the curriculum watered down as is traditionally done during peace time. The academy is only attended for joint classes for basic shinobi subjects. Most clans teach their kin their own jutsus and taijutsu styles themselves therefore they don't go to too many classes. This puts students from civilian descent at a large disadvantage which usually leads to them quitting halfway or dying young as ninja. This is the reality of aspiring ninjas who don't have shinobi lineage.

But Sakura doesn't know any of these things, not yet at least.

All Sakura knows is that mommy is a nurse and daddy is a merchant and a distant grandfather used to be a ninja from another village. That she is six—that she needs to use one hand and a pinky to express this and that she _really _wanted to be a _ninja._

Ninjas are strong, secretive and most importantly, protects people. Once she becomes a strong ninja, she can protect her family and live happily with them!

Sakura may be young but she knew well enough that when multiple arrows pierced the carriage that her and her parents rode to on their way back to Konoha meant that someone wanted them dead. Rather, someone wanted her father to be dead. Sakura couldn't quite understand but mommy said it had something to do with daddy being a merchant.

But… nobody ever taught Sakura how to defend herself from bullies. They hadn't taught them how to dodge kunai, let alone throw them, yet. But Ami, who had been attending academy lessons two years earlier, knew how and she knew how to aim well enough that she nicked Sakura many times.

The wounds bled, oh how they bled. They blossomed like bright red _higanbanas _on a midsummer's night. So Sakura ran, because that's one of the first things they taught her; to run when an enemy is clearly stronger than you.

But even though Sakura knew this, her body didn't. Her legs were sticks without a hint of muscle, her stamina shot like a hunted dog; she was running out of breath and Ami and her friends were only a few steps behind her. Her legs take her to the academy training grounds—which, looking back on it, was nothing but a glorified playground—where other children were training.

Sakura pushes herself for that last burst of speed but trips on a thrown kunai; she lands in front of a girl. She vaguely recognizes her as one of her classmates whom she lent a pencil to during a lesson.

Sakura reaches a hand out and wheezes out a plea for help. The girl reaches a hand out in return—Sakura wanted to burst out into tears of relief until the girl suddenly slaps her outstretched hand away.

"D-don't reach out to me like that! Do you want them to bully me too?" Then she ran away.

Sakura drops her outstretched hand, it falls on the dusty ground with a resounding thud. When Ami and her followers reached Sakura; her eyes were blank and no matter how much they beat and use the girl for target practice—she never made a sound.

"Tch, let's stop wasting our time here; I heard Sasuke-kun's training near here—shall we go watch?"

"Wahh, as expected of the future Mrs. Uchiha~!"

That night, when Sakura comes home—beaten black, blue and red- to her civilian house where she lived with her civilian nurse of a mother and civilian merchant father; she tells them with a wide smile that she _really really _wanted to be a great ninja someday. That she'll train even harder than she did today.

Her parents didn't understand but were worried and hurriedly patched the little girl up but…they were a bit too late.

._.

Sakura didn't attend ninja classes for a bit after that. She spent her days of recovery with books and the academy syllabus.

According to the syllabus, by the end of classes she will have been equipped with;

**Ninjutsu - Kawarimi no Jutsu: **Users replace their own body with some other object, generally with a block of wood, the moment an attack lands.

**Rank: **E-Rank

**Class: **Supplementary

**Hand Seals: **Tiger-Boar-Ox-Dog-Snake

**Ninjutsu – Bunshin no Jutsu: **A jutsu that creates an intangible copy of one's own body without any substance.

**Rank: **E-Rank

**Class: **Supplementary

**Hand Seals: **Ram-Snake-Tiger

**Ninjutsu – Henge no Jutsu: **A jutsu typically used to change into people other than oneself, but also the ability to change into animals, plants and even inanimate objects like weapons.

**Rank: **E-Rank

**Class: **Supplementary

**Hand Seals: **Dog-Boar-Ram

**Taijutsu – Basic Academy Kata: **Utilizes strong fist fighting style with acrobatic moves to promote strength and flexibility.

**Rank: **E-Rank

**Class: **Primary Offense

**Genjutsu – Genjutsu Release: **A method used to release a genjutsu by disrupting chakra flow.

**Rank: **E-Rank

**Class: **Defensive

_*Students descended from clans or previous shinobi lineage may learn more techniques outside of academy lessons._

Sakura couldn't help but just stare at the piece of paper. Customarily, students graduate from the academy at around twelve to thirteen years of age, she was six right now… so in the next six years, she'll only learn these skills? Was this some sort of joke? Sakura's mind couldn't comprehend this. How huge a gap must she have to fill to even be able to catch up to her own classmates? Let alone Ami?

Sakura started to shake, her whole form trembling, her eyes unfocused and shot. She needed to train and catch up and learn and _bleed. _Now.

But she couldn't. She couldn't even get out of bed. So for the whole week that she was confined to her bed, she read about ninja tactics, training menus, skills kunoichi should have and even researched clans and doujustus.

This is when she came across a page about the Uchiha Clan, which was a famous clan with prodigies who were trained at ridiculously early ages. They had a powerful doujutsu and were respected and feared as a great clan in Konoha.

Sakura couldn't help but clutch at the page and cry at the unfairness of it all.

She had nothing while the children from this clan, they had everything and were strong. She wanted to be strong too. She wanted to be respected and feared too. She wanted.

And so, she learned how to get what she wanted.

._.

People choose what they want to see and believe. They choose to see things in the way that would suit them. This is why people were so easy to manipulate. This is what Sakura thinks as she converses with the girl who refused to help her back in the playground.

The girl apologizes and promises to make it up to her; Sakura only smiles and nods, going along with the incessant babbling of the cowardly girl.

Sakura decides then, that she should use this girl. She smiles brightly and tells the girl that all is forgiven if she gets her a scroll with a jutsu on it that she can learn.

The girl visibly hesitates to promise this of course, but Sakura employs wide eyes and a small meek voice asking; "We're friends, aren't we? You can trust me!"

The girl brings her a simple jutsu, Sakura didn't really expect much from her really, but it was something that wouldn't be taught in the academy so Sakura accepts it as acceptable compensation.

Sakura learned a D-Rank jutsu called Shunshin no Jutsu.

**._.**

"Ahh. Haruno-kun, you came. I thought you couldn't because you have class with Nara-sensei, right now?" Iruka, her sensei for chakra theory, who was overseeing shuriken throwing practice for this year's third year academy students at the current moment.

"He dismissed us rather early today, so I thought I could drop by still. May I do the usual? If that is alright with you…" Sakura trails off hesitantly. She knew Iruka wouldn't deny her but it was better to be on the safe side.

"Of course, Haruno-kun. The students love you and they feel more accomplished during target practice when you're here." Iruka replies, fondly smiling down at one of his favored zealous, genin-to-be; he knows she'll become a great kunoichi due to her hard work and dedication. He blows his whistle.

"Alright! Please take a five minute break and hydrate yourselves. And since everybody has been well behaved during class today, Haruno-kun will play the Target Mission game with you all, once break is over." Iruka announces once he's gotten his entire student's attention. They all reply enthusiastically.

Some students approach Sakura and tell her that they will definitely succeed in winning this time. Sakura just smiles and tells them that she's sure they will, if they work hard.

Sakura had started 'assisting' underclassmen in the academy during their target practices on her third year in the academy. To make it more fun, she proposed it as a game—the price being that they can ask anything of her. Sakura hasn't had to do anything since not once has she lost.

As they get ready to start practice once again, Sakura stood squarely in the middle of the firing zone—this is normally advised against, as it is dangerous but it is allowed for the sake of the game. She puts her hands together, in lightning speed and suddenly the firing zone was filled with carbon copies of Sakura.

The sight never ceases to amaze her underclassmen and Sakura allows herself a small smile. In reality, making so many bunshins took over three fifths of her chakra reserve, even though she's made sure to manipulate her chakra to execute the jutsu in the least wasteful manner possible. There was no excess chakra expended, which only serves to infuriate Sakura a bit, because it only shows how pitiful her reserves really were.

Each bunshin stood in front of a target, feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent and a single kunai ready. Their formation served as a barrier; her objective is to parry the enemies' incoming weapons and protect the target posts—which she considers as her client—from getting hit.

._.

Sakura parries a shuriken that came dangerous close to imbeding itself in her left arm. She only had a split second to be relieved before she had to shunshin to the other side of the field. She spied a rather clever group of enemies who teamed up to occupy two of her bunshins in order to make way for one of their comrades to let loose a kunai—whizzing straight and true to their target. She parries this as well.

As she shunshins more in order to cover her bunshin's openings or blind spots, her body goes on auto pilot in order to take an inventory of her situation and physical condition.

She was three bunshins down. And she only had a fifth of her chakra left. She was also feeling pretty dehydrated at this point; which is a good sign— in a way—because it meant that their time limit was nearing. She only had to last long enough, until Iruka-sensei blew the whistle at least.

She pushes on and spots a student throw a straight flush, four kunais at the same time in a line formation, and Sakura curses the fact that academy students get more clever each session. She loses two bunshins and gets a rip on her standard black shinobi shirt, but she does deflect all the kunai. She looks at the clever academy student and gives a proud smirk.

The Hyuuga—judging by their eyes—just smiles back sweetly while gesturing to the firing zone. Sakura loses her smirk as she realizes that because of the brat, she was down _five_ bunshins now. This was her plan all along!

And as if the widening of her eyes were their queue, _all _students present threw kunais and shuriken at the same time, towards the posts.

At this point, Sakura's brain kicked into over drive—all the projectiles seemed to slow down as Sakura tried to assess the situation calmly and come up with a timely solution. She was currently situated near the left end side of the target area, she can defend the smaller target area to her left and send all her remaining bunshin to the right and defend—which wouldn't work because she realizes that her bunshin can't all possibly make it in time and will just dispel, in which case she'll fail because bunshin can't shunshin.

Change of plan. She'll have most of her bunshin defend the smaller target area to her left and she'll defend the right side—_somehow. _

She didn't have much time to think it over.

Her finger twitched and she's already at the other side of the field; employing kawarimi, using one of her bunshins as a replacement instead. From there on, she uses shunshin to deflect the projectiles closest the target posts, taking a kunai to her shoulder in the process, before coming to the last stretch; she only had one more incoming kunai before – her internal clock predicts—Iruka blows the whistle. But her hand will most likely stop short of the kunai, it wouldn't make it, so she relied on a split second decision.

She replaced herself with the kunai. As soon as she's replaced, she turns a bit to the side and lets the kunai come whizzing past her ear, nary an inch away.

And Iruka blows the whistle.

She drops to her knees and pants in exhaustion; her underclassmen are becoming too clever with their strategies.

She feels a something cool touch her forehead and she looks up to see the same Hyuuga who smirked at her. Sakura accepts the cool beverage, thanking her. The little girl doesn't say 'you're welcome' or anything that was any measure of polite—which was usually standard of a Hyuuga clan member- and instead turns away from her; she tells Sakura that they will win next time.

Sakura just sweat drops before glugging the whole bottle of water down in one go. Then she gets up and helps pick up thrown kunai and shuriken, alongside the academy students.

Iruka approaches her with a towel, and tells her that it wasn't really necessary for her to help with the clean up; wasn't she tired?

Sakura shakes her head in denial and tells him that this was the least she could because the students help out a lot with her training. She feels like her efforts in the past few years are starting to bear fruit.

**._.**

_"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet."_

_- Anurag Prakash Ray_

**A/N: Thank you for your continued support. Your words of encouragement motivate me to write and put more thought in the plot and characterization. I also would like it if you gave me feedback on how you think the story is progressing- do you have any of your own imaginations on how the story will end? What will happen to Sakura in the end? Does she achieve her goal? Do her friends find out about her facade? I would really like to know!**


	3. Chapter III

**A/N: _I am in great need of a beta-reader, anyone interested, please send me a private message._**

**Please go back to the end of the second chapter, I have added an extra scene in there. It was originally supposed to be on the third chapter but it meshed with the tone of the second chapter better. I apologize for any inconvenience.**

**I apologize for the rather late update. But I hope you enjoy this chapter and provide me with feed back and constructive criticism.**

**All contents are not beta read.**

**I do not own Naruto**

**Chapter III**

_"But remember, there are __two ways __to dehumanize someone: _

_by dismissing them, and by __idolizing __them." _

_-David Wong._

**._.**

Hinata Hyuuga has always been painfully shy. She didn't know how to reach out and just—just talk to people and make friends…

The Hyuuga name that she has, is just that- a name. However it's tacked on many responsibilities and expectations on her—she feels suffocated, alone and defeated.

Hopeless was how she felt. Until her.

There she was, across the field, picking at the herbs needed to concoct poison—she winced every time stalks of plant brush against her scratched up arms.

Sakura Haruno was like a pink haired angel sent down from heaven for Hinata. The timid girl doesn't think that the pinkette considers her a close friend but to her; Sakura was her best and only friend.

Most times, Hinata would watch on from afar as Ino Yamanaka would string along the pinkette to talk to Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha during lunch. She's always been envious and sometimes the pinkette would even invite her to go with them but… Hinata doesn't do well with a lot of people at a time.

Sakura understood this, accepted her despite it and just gave her an open hand. Hinata wants to be a pillar of support for her, just as she was for Hinata.

_"You know…if you want to train with him, all you have to do is ask." A feminine voice said from behind her, startling the timid girl._

_"Ahh… I-I wasn't..um…"_

_"Come on, don't be shy! You can come with me; we can join Naruto and the others and train together!" The pinkette smiles brightly, while offering her hand to the lavender haired girl who was crouched behind some bushes on the fringe of the training grounds._

_"Um… I…I don't r-really do w-well with g-groups of p-people…" Hinata replies, tweedling her fingers together while looking everywhere but the pinkette's eyes. She was really bad with people. _

_Sakura will probably never approach her again after this, Hinata thinks as her eyes and her shoulders droop at the thought. _

_"Then, will you be alright with just me then?" Sakura asks, pointing at herself. _

_"I mean, I may not be very good compared to you but its much more fun to train with someone else, ne?" Sakura continues, laughing while ruffling her hair a bit in embarrassment. _

_Hinata only looks at her in wonder; she wanted to spar? With _her_?_

_"Y-yes, I would like that…"_

"…Sakura-san!" Hinata calls out, walking towards the pinkette's retreating back.

"Ah, hello Hinata-san, how was the lesson for you?" The pinkette greeted kindly.

"I-it was fine. B-but more importantly, the scratches o-on your arms…" Hinata says, trailing off near the end while gesturing towards the pinkette's arms which had superficial scratches etched on its surface. She held out a container of healing salve to the other girl, as if to express her point without speaking any longer than necessary.

Sakura looks a bit taken aback at first but then smiles brightly in gratitude towards the Hyuuga heiress, she thanks her and converses with her some more in order to ask if she can learn how to make the salve from the shy girl. Hinata agrees and is overjoyed that she was able to help the pinkette.

They part ways soon after, Hinata leaving first for a lesson in the Hyuuga compound, the pinkette left behind while waving at the Hyuuga's retreating figure. Once the other girl was out of sight, the pinkette looks at her arms which are now coated with the salve and bandages. It no longer stung, almost numbing really—the healing salve was obviously of a high grade. Something that they wouldn't be taught how to make in the academy. It's fortunate that the Hyuuga heiress was capable of at least this.

._.

"The clouds are nice today, huh?" Sakura says, bending over Shikamaru's view of the sky, effectively interrupting his cloud gazing. She smiles sweetly at him, her hands interlaced behind her back; she was the picture of innocence and everything sweet. It annoyed him.

Honestly Shikamaru knows that Sakura is not really what she seems to be but he finds it troublesome to even try and meddle; that's what other troublesome women are for—like Ino.

He's willing to just stay aloof and ignore what the pinkette is scheming since it doesn't really seem to have anything to do with him, and she doesn't really seem harmful to Choji at all but she's too troublesome in the sense that she's persistently trying to become closer to him. She was infringing on his cloud gazing, which is done by enough troublesome women in his life—he didn't need another one.

"You know…it wasn't nice to take advantage of Naruto like that. You could have gotten your own scroll." Shikamaru drawls, lazily closing his eyes, his hand crossed over beneath his head, acting as a pillow.

"Hmm? He offered though. It would be rude to reject his gift, since he worked so hard to try and steal two scrolls for my sake." Sakura replies without missing a beat, smiling brightly still while plopping down beside the prone form of the lazy Nara and resting against the great oak tree's reliable trunk.

She knows that he knows something but she isn't bothered since she knows he doesn't really have any motivation to try and oust her. This has been their relationship ever since the day the Nara actually mustered up enough motivation to confront her about her motive for being friendly towards Choji Akamichi.

_"Why? Is it bad to treat Akamichi-san nicely? Isn't that just something to be expected since Akamichi-san himself is a kind person?" The pink haired girl asks in righteous indignation. _

_Shikamaru looks taken aback for all of a split second before becoming lazy eyed once again. He caught the small tell tale sign of a smirk on her face the second she replied to him. She was trying to play him._

_"Tch. You're even more troublesome than I thought. But whatever."_

Sakura thinks that that's when she truly started taking notice of the lazy Nara. There were reasons for him to be motivated to do "troublesome" things after all; therefore he can be used as well. Plus, its fun messing with the usually unruffled Nara; it just makes her feel all the more superior.

"Oh, but I guess I should've just given you the extra scroll that Kiba also got for me. Would have saved from going through the effort of doing so yourself, ne?" She continues, putting her index finger on her lip while looking skywards, as if contemplating the thought seriously—it was obvious that she was mocking him.

"If you knew, than you should have just given it to me."The Nara replies, a faint knot between his eyebrows forming.

"I was but then I thought it would be good if you had some exercise once in a while." Sakura replies, along a sugary giggle—the kind that she knew Shikamaru absolutely hated.

"Tch. Troublesome."

"Ah! Here you are Sakura! I've been looking everywhere for you, lunch has already started and Sasuke-kun is waiting you know?" Ino exclaims, making her way up the hill towards the tree where Shikamaru and Sakura were, wagging a finger in their direction, as if scolding a dog.

"I must've lost track of time, sorry Ino-chan!" Sakura apologizes, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, a tick forming on her head; the Yamanaka heiress sometimes really got on her nerves when she treated Sakura as if she were incompetent.

"Here are the worksheets that sensei wanted me to hand you, he also said that you really should stop skipping history class, or else you won't be set to graduate in the next couple of months. See you later Shikamaru-kun!" Sakura tells the lazy Nara, while placing down a pile of paper beside the lazing Nara.

The Nara does nothing to acknowledge her but close his eyes in sleep.

._.

"This is hmff great, Chaghura-chan!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Dobe."

"Eww, that's disgusting Naruto! But yeah, your cooking's as great as ever—good thing I dragged you away from Shika, he would have spread his laziness to you and then we wouldn't be able to enjoy a good lunch now!"

"Eh? I don't think Shikamaru-kun's lax attitude is contagious, Ino-chan."

"Yeah! Don't compare Sakura-chan to that lazy bastard!"

"Sasuke-kun, you like tomatoes, right? Here, say ~ahhh."

"Hey! Are you ignoring me?!"

"Ah, oops. My hand slipped. Now look at what you've done Naruto! Sakura, can you kindly get us some more water?" Ino says, after she blatantly—'accidentally'—spilled the water container all over Naruto, while batting her eye lashes at Sakura.

"Hai, hai, Ino-chan."

As she walks away, Ino exclaims that she didn't have to say yes twice, was she patronizing her? While Sakura just continues to walk away saying 'hai, hai' once again, while laughing.

As soon as the pinkette was out of view, the blonde changes her demeanor and quickly huddles with the boys. Her serious expression caught the two boy's attention quickly enough to silence them.

"Okay, now that forehead is out of the way; what are you all getting Sakura for her birthday next week?"

She was greeted by dead silence.

"…you _do _know that Sakura's birthday is next week, yes?"

Another pregnant pause passes before Naruto bursts out.

"Ahahaha, of course I do! I even got her the perfect present! It's definitely going to be better than teme's!" The blonde exclaims raucously, standing up from their seated position and pointing down superiorly over the Uchiha.

"Hn. And keep on dreaming dobe. Sakura will like my gift over yours." Sasuke says, pinching a nerve on the finger that was rudely pointed at his person, causing the blonde to double over and clutch at his injured appendage.

"What'd you say, Teme?!" Naruto exclaims, muttering a little—that hurt!—to the side.

"Dobe."

"Aho!"

"Baka."

As Sakura feels the vibrations from their bickering and Naruto's stomping, she thinks it was probably not a good idea to henge as a rock, after all. She thought that they were secretly plotting something behind her back, enough to warrant spying on them, and they were; just that the nature of their scheming is not the malevolent kind she was expecting.

Sakura sighs to herself, really, she was way too paranoid. It just turned out to be something silly after all. Her birthday present, huh? How silly.

._.

Sakura felt silly. Here she was, parading around town, henge'd into a non-descript stray cat with a minor cloaking jutsu on. Sakura tells herself that she didn't do this to spy on her frie—pawns and find out what they were getting her for her birthday. She was merely honing her skills as a ninja—this was training. Training!

Right now she's tailing the Uchiha brat, who was meandering around the market, almost randomly—as if he didn't know what he was looking for but was determined to look for it anyway. Sakura knows that Sasuke probably doesn't know what gift would top Naruto's, whose gift he hasn't seen yet. She's sure that the whole thing was pretty frustrating for the Uchiha.

Watching him try to shop for something she'd like is almost a present in and of itself—she liked seeing him fumble and be out of his element. That's what he gets for being better than her at taijutsu! Cha!

Suddenly something stops her dead in her tracks. She feels a sharp piercing stare on her, her whole body tensed, her hind legs winding themselves up—readying for a mad dash; to flee from whatever it is that pins her.

She manages enough control of her body and emotions to crane her head and look at who it was that halted her with a look. She comes eye to eye with her previous goal. It was Itachi Uchiha. Standing in front of the tea shop that Sasuke was about to pass by. All three stop, as if the world ceased to turn in the duration where they all asses each other.

Sasuke was staring up at Itachi, his face not visible to Sakura, but his tensed body language enough to give her an insight to what he was feeling. Itachi's gaze however was locked on hers. And Sakura, she was struck and unable to move from his gaze which she now returned. Did he know? Of course, he did! She wasn't anywhere near his level when it comes to genjutsu…

As soon as he directs his gaze to Sasuke, she makes a run for it. She uses the memory of his oppressing presence as fuel and ran.

The encounter with Itachi just proved to her how far away she was from becoming the ninja that she wanted to be—someone who commanded respect, was feared, was _revered._ She was so very far.

All thoughts of gifts and birthday parties was swept under a rug, to the same place where she put fleeting fancies of lacy ribbons and delicate dresses, and trains for the rest of the week in single-minded determination.

._.

_"Rome wasn't built in a day, but it burned in one."_

_-Unknown_

**A/N: Not very satisfied with this chapter but I look forward to what you all have to say about it.**


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